Patrick Kong reunites stars Stephy Tang and Alex Fong for the latest in his ongoing Love series…
Patrick Kong, Hong Kong’s favourite purveyor of bittersweet urban romance returns with Anniversary, the follow up to his 2005 hit Marriage with a Fool. Bringing back together leads Stephy Tang (Love in Time) and Alex Fong (Delete my Love), the film picks up with their couple ten years after the events of the original, finding them facing up to new troubles in their relationship.
Tang again plays Po, with Fong as Keung, the film opening with them in a seemingly stable marriage, despite his bickering about her job, and her worries about him returning to his former womanising ways. Although Keung wants to have children, Po is determined to focus on her career, and is still troubled by the fact that he cheated on her in the past. Matters aren’t helped when Po finds flirty messages on his phone from one of his real estate clients, and with her feeling extra pressure due to problems with her parents and newly-pregnant sister (Lesley Chiang), the cracks soon start to show.
Anyone worried about not having seen or not being able to remember Marriage with a Fool needn’t fret, as while technically a sequel, Anniversary is more than anything a continuation of exactly the same themes Patrick Kong has stuck to for most of his career. Certainly, the film resembles Love is Not All Around and L for Love L for Lies very closely, not least due to the returning presence of Stephy Tang and Alex Fong in the lead roles, dealing with infidelity, misunderstandings and relationship politics in very much the same way. This is good news for fans of Kong, of which he has many, and the film hits all the right targets as its melodramatic plot plays out in the expected manner, making for an engaging, if scarcely original or challenging watch. The film does lean more towards drama than his previous outings with Tang and Fong, with only a scattered few instances of wacky comedy provided by the supporting cast, and is arguably the better for it, being more focused and sure of its tone. While not terribly moving, the film does have its moments, and Kong just about manages to balance soap opera shenanigans with a take on marriage and human nature that’s pleasingly realistic and cynical in places.
Stephy Tang and Alex Fong are the main draw here, and fans of them as an onscreen couple won’t be disappointed, Kong keeping them front and centre for the whole of the film and never getting too distracted by needless subplots. The two are both on good form, and though as in Marriage to a Fool their characters are very traditional genre figures, they manage to add enough sympathy to make them likeable and interesting despite their flaws. This gives the material a considerable lift, and helps to distract from the basic familiarity of it all, and from Kong’s workmanlike direction, which at times gives the film the feel of a television special.
To be fair, such is usually the case with the films of Patrick Kong, and Anniversary should go down well with fans of his work or of Stephy Tang and Alex Fong. Arguably one of his better and more well-rounded films, it succeeds in its modest ambitions, and though unlikely to appeal beyond its target audience, is entertaining enough in its own way.